Gaya: The rich spiritual heritage and cultural traditions of India make it appealing to visitors from Southeast Asia, though many of the new tourists from SEA are not your typical sightseeing holidaymakers.
During the pilgrimage season, from November to April, outside the rainy monsoon season, as many as 11 airlines operate scheduled and charter flights into Gaya, including Air India from Yangon, Bhutan Airlines and Drukair from Paro and Bangkok, Jetstar Pacific from Hanoi, Myanmar Airways from Yangon, Sri Lankan Airlines from Colombo, and Vietnam Airlines from Ho Chi Minh city. Recently Thai Vietjet Air commenced flights from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport along with Thai Smile, and from early December Thai AirAsia will fly from Bangkok’s Don Mueang to Gaya. This week Bhutan Airlines announced itwill fly to Gaya twice a week from Bangkok until the end of February.
Bodhgaya has the first ever Thai temple in India. When AirAsia announced its new direct flight four times a week from Bangkok, it was promoted as a gift to Buddhist pilgrims, with it being ‘sure to bring great merit to their longstanding faith’.
The growth of Gaya’s airport is mainly due to SEA Buddhist pilgrims, a Gaya-based taxi driver tells me. The irony is that Gaya has more flights during the season from other parts of Asia than it does from within India.
While half the ASEAN countries have direct flights to India, most of the flights each week come from the main aviation hubs of Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Cambodia and Laos signed agreements three years to open direct flights to India, but these have yet to materialise.
Gaya airport has only one domestic flight a day to the capital Delhi, with several services a week to Varanasi and Kolkata. The next nearest airport is the Bihar state capital of Patna.
26/11/18 TTR Weekly
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During the pilgrimage season, from November to April, outside the rainy monsoon season, as many as 11 airlines operate scheduled and charter flights into Gaya, including Air India from Yangon, Bhutan Airlines and Drukair from Paro and Bangkok, Jetstar Pacific from Hanoi, Myanmar Airways from Yangon, Sri Lankan Airlines from Colombo, and Vietnam Airlines from Ho Chi Minh city. Recently Thai Vietjet Air commenced flights from Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport along with Thai Smile, and from early December Thai AirAsia will fly from Bangkok’s Don Mueang to Gaya. This week Bhutan Airlines announced itwill fly to Gaya twice a week from Bangkok until the end of February.
Bodhgaya has the first ever Thai temple in India. When AirAsia announced its new direct flight four times a week from Bangkok, it was promoted as a gift to Buddhist pilgrims, with it being ‘sure to bring great merit to their longstanding faith’.
The growth of Gaya’s airport is mainly due to SEA Buddhist pilgrims, a Gaya-based taxi driver tells me. The irony is that Gaya has more flights during the season from other parts of Asia than it does from within India.
While half the ASEAN countries have direct flights to India, most of the flights each week come from the main aviation hubs of Singapore, Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur. Cambodia and Laos signed agreements three years to open direct flights to India, but these have yet to materialise.
Gaya airport has only one domestic flight a day to the capital Delhi, with several services a week to Varanasi and Kolkata. The next nearest airport is the Bihar state capital of Patna.
26/11/18 TTR Weekly
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